Rep. Jim Jordan is showing Americans how Donald Trump would pressure private businesses, especially in news and social media, to do his bidding if he wins a second term.
As chair of the House Oversight Committee, the Ohio Republican is attempting to coerce news outlets, social media platforms, and advertisers into submitting to conservative demands — offering a blueprint for an even more aggressive push for control by an empowered Trump.
In his most recent attack, Jordan has gone on the offense against CBS News, the kind of mainstream media organization that Trump loves to accuse of treating him unfairly simply by doing basic journalism. Jordan has done so by seizing on CBS News’ decision to lay off reporter Catherine Herridge in February, scheduling a hearing for next week.
A former Fox News reporter, Herridge was among the reporters who promoted debunked claims about President Joe Biden’s alleged involvement in a foreign influence scheme, being especially credulous about a politically motivated report from Senate Republicans and earning praise from Trump for it. Naturally, conservatives see nefarious motives, with Jordan framing the end of her employment as a suppression of “free speech” and claiming that CBS “seized” her files.
The organization denied the seizure claims, saying it delivered her personal belongings to her home and kept her files in her office untouched. “We have respected her request to not go through the files, and out of our concern for confidential sources, the office she occupied has remained secure since her departure,” read a statement from CBS to TVNewser. A representative from the union SAG-AFTRA later monitored the return of her reporting notes. Jordan is giving Herridge a chance to speak at the hearing while also demanding information from CBS about who decided to let her go and whether anyone went through her files after she left.
Herridge has so far not commented publicly other than sharing a statement from a veterans’…
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